2017 New Year’s Resolutions

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Those of you have listened and/or read this space long enough know that I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions; there is nothing magical about the turn of a calendar to suddenly create a new human being. You’re either committed or you aren’t. Period. You can choose to lose weight, quit smoking, get organized, or be a better person as effectively on March 24th, June 15th, or September 15th as effectively as you can on January 1st. In fact, study after study shows that 90% of all New Year’s resolutions fail by February.

With that said, I’ve made my list of things I resolve to do in 2017 which have little or nothing to do with my personal behavior choices, but are still good goals to set as we head into a new year. After all, that’s the real problem with resolutions; we decide we’re going to change who we are, rather than setting realistic goals that may or may not have anything to do with changing ourselves as people. So, without further ado, here are my 2017 resolutions:

I resolve to give President-Elect-Trump a chance. I can’t say I am a fan of all of his cabinet appointments, some of whom I find woefully unqualified, and more importantly, as a whole, I find to be a group of people who all think the same way. The problem with surrounding yourself with people who engage in group-think is that you never hear a dissenting opinion, but at the same time, I will root for him to succeed in improving the American economy and making the country a better place. I didn’t vote for the man and I think he’s a joke for the most part, but he’s the president and if he can “Make America Great Again,” more power to him. Not literally, of course.

I resolve to watch less news. I’ll do my job, but I have had it with this 24/7 news cycle we live in. I acknowledge that I have a career that demands that I know what is going on at all times, but after two weeks of a holiday break of watching almost, quite literally, no news, I can’t tell you how much better I felt physically, mentally and emotionally. The world is a dark place if you allow it to be. Ignorance is bliss. Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium.

I resolve to create, in conjunction with my team, more and more annoying ear-worming items from the RAD show. We destroyed you in December of 2016 with the Christmas Lights song amongst the other various new things we threw at you from yelling “NINE,” to “WHAT’S IN THE BOX,” and everything in between. We’re coming after you in 2017 so get ready

I resolve to never use the term “fake news,” unless I am mocking it. This is the dumbest, most made-up term since Y2K. The news in America has been biased and, for the most part “fake” for about 2 decades on both sides. Hearing the ultimate liar, Brian Williams, preach about the epidemic of “fake news,” is as rich as it gets.

Perhaps most importantly for my personal mental well-being, I resolve to the best of my ability to avoid and ignore social media. I have no personal social media presence, but a hazard of the job is staying in touch with what people are saying and how they’re reacting. I have come to the conclusion that the invention of social media is one of the most vile in human history. It is staggering to me how easily and wildly people spread total lies and outright hate. I have learned more about things that have never happened to me in the past few years or so via social media posts by people who have never met me but “hear,” things and feel emboldened to repeat them with no repercussions or consequences.

I have hope for 2017, but it is limited. Remember always that hope leads to despair. Let’s resolve to simply start by trying to survive, then thrive, then prosper. Good luck